


Son of Gibbs

by Thepresidentofrussia23



Category: NCIS
Genre: Cancer, How Do I Tag, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Sorry, M/M, Parental Jethro Gibbs, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-05 11:08:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 28
Words: 8,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18827452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thepresidentofrussia23/pseuds/Thepresidentofrussia23
Summary: What if Leroy Gibbs was deployed to Kazakhstan instead of Iraq? And what if he fell in love with a local woman and left before he could find out that he had a son? Here is Dmitry Blalandin's story of his life and how he found out that he had an American father that worked for the NCIS and how Dmitry served for the Kazakh army special purpose forces.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hetsez](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hetsez/gifts), [Kiki_44](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Kiki_44).



Life is strange, really strange but destiny is written in the fabric of heaven and Leroy Jethro Gibbs was sent to Almaty, Kazakistan and that is how he met Valentina Adiya, her hair was silky golden and her voice was melodic and she had a wonderful personality that reminded him of Shannon, he was so lonely and so desperate and one thing led to another and Valentina ended up pregnant. However, the Kazakh protocors were furious at Gibbs for breaking protocol and reported him to his superiors and he was sent to Iraq and eventually home. But while Gibbs suffered the loss of his wife Shannon and his daughter Kelly, Dmitry Balandin had been born and was already two years old. Balandin grew and matured but was also mischevious and loved to play pranks on his mother, but sadly his mother had been mentally unstable when she met Gibbs, and when he left; Valentina lost it and would often scream and cry and throw dishes, and so Dmitry learned to not bother his mother and to keep quiet around her whenever she screeched that he was a bastard and a whore. Dmitry often loved watching commercials of the state programs showing soliders training and growing stronger for the special forces and he decided at the age of ten that he would become a solider and try and make his mother proud. Dmitry knew how to speak, read and write Kazakh and Russian and Mongolian and learned Judo. But tragedy struck Balandin when his mother hung herself while he was at school and the incident shattered Dmitry and he cried and cried and he was thirteen when this happened. Balandin moved into a orphanage where he was teased and bullied mercilessly but he frequently fought back and soon the boys learned to respect him and he grew to a 6'2 by the time he was twenty.


	2. Chapter Two

"AND GET OUT AND DON'T COME BACK!"   
Balandin sadly picked himself off the ground and grabbed his suitcase filled with his few belongings and left the orphanage behind and silently shivered in the wintry air of Almaty and walked down the sidewalk and looked around and realized that he was alone in the cold harsh world on his own without his mother, He missed her so much and wished she was still alive. Balandin drew in his coat closer to his chest and quietly sang the national anthem of Kazakistan while he dragged his suitcase and laid down as the snow piled up on him while he shivered and blew out puffy clouds of steam into the freezing air as the stars glinted above him. The next morning Dmitry got up and shook off the snow and purchased himself a train ticket to Astana, the main captial of the country and when he arrived, people crowded the train depot and held up signs and others carried luggage and tourists shouted for directions while he looked for a recruitement station. He felt lost and alone as he had never been here becuase of either his studies or his mother's mental illness, he found the station near the parliment and he sighed, this was going to be a long day becuase of the long line of men and women. Balandin eventually got in and signed the necessary documents and got his picture taken and he recieved a small bunk that in a room shared by twenty other recruits, his uniform were fatiuges and he was a first class recruit. Dmitry was determined to make his country proud and to protect his country from its enemies.


	3. Chapter Three

As Balandin was raised by his mother and eventually the orphanage and joined the army and trained to become special forces in Kazakhstan, Gibbs rose through the ranks of NCIS and earned his own team and met his current team members under different circumstances, he solved murders that would make a normal person retch and have nightmares for nights on end but he was strong and courageous and he was kind but had tough love for all of his agents, but little did he know that his son Dmitry grew up without love. One day Abby Scuito made a hit on the database and found a living DNA match between Leroy Gibbs and a man serving in Kazakhstan and she gasped at the fact that this man was a 99.99% match and realized that this man was now twenty four years old. She carefully placed the results in the manila folder and re-did her pony tails and freshened up her lipstick and carefully knocked on Gibbs's office door. When she entered the room, she began "Gibbs, I have something to tell you..."


	4. Chapter Four

Balandin was now in the forest guard, guarding the taiga forests and watching carefully and appreacating the natural beauty of his country, he wanted the forests to stay like this forever, the work he had to do was never easy and was continually stressful for a young man like him. Dmitry wasn't ready or prepared for what was next; bullets flew as he was ambushed and he had to fire back, killing the sniper and a bullet struck him near his kidney and he fell over, bleeding out and dying when he heard his senior yelling at him to get up but he passed out from the lack of blood. Dmitry woke up and his waist was wrapped up in bandages and suddenly felt discouraged by his situation and he wanted to be a part of the special forces, but now he was wounded and he had to rest to regain his energy in order to become stronger, as the years passed, Dmitry grew stronger and older and more experienced and he rose through the ranks as well and he began his preperation for the National Elite Exams so he could join the elite ranks and further his career and to harden his grip on his future. The day for Exams were rapidly approaching and men and women were furiously studying and exercising to strengthen their endurance and abilities while Gibbs was being briefed in Washington D.C on the existence of his son. When Leroy was told "You have a son named Dmitry Balandin" he was stunned and realized that he had to tell the rest of his team and leave for Kazakhstan and meet up with his biological son. The breeze was strong and offset the heat as the platoon that Balandin was with approached the steppes, sweat trickled down the back of his neck as he carried his 100 kg pack and the survival portion of the exams were here and he had to work hard to earn the blue beret and to rise above his circumstances. All this time Gibbs was trying to pack his bags and was trying to imagine what his son would look like, would he have blue eyes and brown hair? But time was running out and DiNozzo offered to drop him off at the airport, he grabbed his bags and ran out the door and nervously adjusted himself for the ten hour flight to Almaty, Kazakhstan.


	5. Chapter Five

Dmitry Balandin stood proudly as a fresh graduate and the newest member of the special purpose forces, he was now an elite paratrooper and he received the coveted beret with tears in his eyes as he remembered his dead mother, luckily he received two weeks off as a gift and an extra promotional bonus and he would spend that in Almaty before returning to Astana and receiving his mission, Balandin arrived at his old home and paid for its rent and decided to look around and found his room much different than the day the agency came to pick him up and took him away from his familiar surroundings. His toys and clothing were gone and his furniture was much larger, tears flooded his eyes when he arrived in his mother's room and found that everything that his mother once owned was gone and he quickly shut the door and along with it, unwanted memories of his mother's body hanging from the ceiling fan. He then went into the kitchen and found that the cabinets and drawers were empty and decided to order some Mongolian noodles and found that the living room was equipped with a flat screen device and found a small black remote and when he pressed the red button, he cried out at the loud television as he scrolled through the channels and turned down the volume, Balandin tended to be shy and withdrawn around strangers and that was a result of the merciless teasing of him looking like a American bastard, he heard the doorbell ring and he paid for the order and he ate his noodles while watching NBC news about the stock market when he heard the door knock again. Balandin was confused, didn't he already pay the delivery man? He decided to cautiously open the door, when he saw a grey haired man with blue eyes standing near the door way, the man began to speak in English but Dmitry did not know a single word of English and could not understand him, Balandin tried to reason with him in Russian because he feared for his life and he quickly slammed the door and locked it, hoping that the man would go away.


	6. Chapter Six

Leroy had scared the man and he knew it, and even worse; his son didn't know English and quickly shut the door in a defensive manner. Gibbs knew he could've kicked down the door, but something told him that wasn't going to calm down his panicking son, he needed to hire an interpreter. Dmitry calmed himself down before realizing that he had just embarrassed the beret that he wore with pride and he decided to confront the Russian looking man. He quickly opened the door and saw that the porch was empty and he breathed a sigh of relief, he did not like using violence more than necessary and he returned inside his house and decided to turn in for the night and fell asleep dreaming of the man's blue eyes. When he woke up with a gasping breath, he prepared himself and arrived at the cemetery where his mother was buried. He remembered the funeral and the burial vividly within his flashback as he saw himself accompanying his grieving family and he could feel the stabbing pain as his mother was buried and the cold rain as it drenched his black clothes and white headband. Balandin suddenly snapped out of his flashback and knelt before his mother's headstone and placed lilies before her grave, and spoke to her and told her about how he had been stuck in an orphanage and then he trained and received his beret and how he stopped playing pranks and how he was much more serious in his studies. Dmitry crossed himself and left cemetery where the same man was now with another man whose name was Antonin Chupkov, Antonin was a interpreter and he explained to Dmitry that the blue eyed stranger was Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Gibbs was Balandin's father. Dmitry felt a lump growing in his throat and tears were already growing in his eyes, he felt anger at this man for leaving his mother, he cared not for the father that abandoned his mother and he felt sad, he needed time and he needed it now.


	7. Chapter Seven

Balandin ran blindly, sobbing heavily as he felt the crushing grief and worthlessness compound against his chest, the deep depression that he had dealt with during his stay in the orphanage threatened to come back full force and he hated that thought especially when he had a tough time studying when he was fourteen, he had to calm down. But his irrational thinking was not helping his case, when he came to his senses, he realized that Gibbs was holding him and was trying to soothe and calm his heartbreaking sobs. Leroy felt guilt at what he had done to Dmitry, especially the fact that he was still grieving over his mother's death, Dmitry looked somewhat what he had in mind but Dmitry was blue eyed and had blonde hair and he wore military style fatigues and wore a blue beret emblazoned with the Kazakh emblem, a gold medal hung around his neck, symbolizing his courage and valor in the face of danger. When Gibbs calmed his son, his beautiful baby blue eyed son. Gibbs explained gently "I am sorry that I left you, this is not your fault Dmitry, I really love you, I promise. I never knew you were born until just a few weeks ago and now I must tell you that I am incredibly proud of you for overcoming your situation, I realize that you should not have gone through this at the age you did." Dmitry studied him carefully and spoke gently in Kazakh by saying "I really have missed you, but I have been insulted greatly and my past is not a happy one, so do not ask me to relive it for you. I will do my very best to make you proud and I will work hard to maintain my position in the Special Purpose Forces, and I will fight long and hard to protect Kazakhstan no matter what it takes, even if it costs me my life in the process. You are more than welcome to visit me in my apartment in Astana where I am close to my base and you can call me as long as I am not on a mission." Balandin drew his father for a hug and they embraced for a long time, Dmitry noted the smell of Bourbon and sawdust and a strong cologne mixed with it all, while Gibbs noted a scent of sweat, Aqua Velva, mud and cheap fabric softener and a little bit like dollar store quality perfume(Balandin's on a stipend so he can't afford fancy perfume) . Both combinations of scents were lonely, sad and depressing and indicated how much the men went through on their own. When Gibbs and Balandin arrived at the younger man's apartment, he unlocked the door and flicked on the lights and Dmitry shyly announced to his father "Make yourself at home, it is not much but it is cheap enough for my stipend to pay for it." Leroy quietly looked around his son's cramped apartment even though there were not many furniture and he saw a small couch for two sitting in front of a small television and saw a photograph of Dmitry Balandin shyly smiling and holding his gold medal for the cameraman above the television. Dmitry broke his father's thoughts by bringing him Mongolian noodles, his favorite when he was not forced on a paleo diet for the sake of building muscle. Gibbs thought of cooking cowboy steaks but decided not to be rude to his only son by eating the noodles, the noodles were spicy and had a limey kick to it and Dmitry ate the much spicier version since he thought his father would not be able to handle the spice. Then Dmitry spoke by saying "Can I call you baba?" Gibbs nodded and told his son "I would like for you to come to America and to see what my life and my team looks like, you can even meet my team and see them all." Balandin agreed since he had one week off left and he had to hurry before the days all faded away into the dust of the past.


	8. Chapter Eight

As Dmitry Balandin got his passport stamped by the customs official and Leroy Gibbs was welcomed home by the customs, the NCIS team waited patiently or rather in some cases impatiently as Ducky tried to calm down Tony DiNozzo who joked that Dmitry would be a head slapper like his father Leroy but Ducky reprimanded him and Tony sullenly sat and muttered a movie reference while Ziva carried blue and gold colored roses to welcome Dmitry Balandin while Abby carried red roses to welcome back Leroy Gibbs while Jimmy Palmer was busy texting his wife Breena and updating her on what was going on. As the passengers and crew flooded the hallways and the tarmac, the NCIS crew all stood up and Tony spotted Gibbs's silver hair as he walked with a young man carrying his luggage and wearing fatigues and a blue beret. Abby ran over and hugged Gibbs as he gasped "You're crushing my ribs, ease up a little will you?" and she handed the roses to him and Balandin asked "Ол кім?" and then everyone looked at him confused and then Tony piped up and said "Speak English, will ya?" But Balandin replied "Сіз не айтқанын түсінбеймін" Gibbs explained "You might as well get a translation app because he doesn't understand what you are saying, he doesn't speak English." Then Ziva handed him the roses and he gave a lopsided smile and said "Мен сіздің раушандарыңызға ризамын" And then he continued "Рақмет сізге" Balandin bowed like a gentleman and Ziva carefully noted that he was no play boy unlike Tony and perhaps desired a steady and strong relationship and love. The colors were to remind Dmitry of his homeland while he was in the United States and to ease his homesickness slightly and the rest of the crew embraced their boss while Balandin watched his father smile and hug his surrogate family, it warmed him to know that his father had someone to keep him safe when he could not. That night Balandin met his grandfather Jackson Gibbs, Jack spoke to his grandson through an interpreter. Jack spoke "I am glad that you have come into my life, I hope I can get to know you better." Balandin responded "Мен сізбен кездескеніме қуаныштымын, мен біздің достығымызды дамытуға үміттенемін" And with that began a new friendship for Balandin.


	9. Chapter Nine

The next day Gibbs took Balandin on a tour of the bullpen and his office, Balandin was even introduced to Director Vance. Vance coldly stared at the young Kazakh, but Dmitry was not intimidated as he had dealt with harsh drill sergeants when he was a recruit and as a first class private. Then Fornell decided to break into the tension and requested the assistance of the NCIS on a serial killer that was targeting diplomats under heavy security and this was especially bad PR for the secret service. Balandin shook hands with Fornell and the FBI agent handed the man his business card and Balandin explored D.C on his own in a tour group with a locator tag round his neck as he toured the Lincoln memorial then the Washington memorial and the Monticello and then the White House and then finally the Supreme Court, luckily the tour guide spoke Kazakh so Dmitry understood the significance of the monuments while his father was busy trying to solve the murders of two Latvian and Croat diplomats and the respective governments were absolutely furious and had recalled all their diplomats until the mess had been resolved. While the diplomatic spat was being resolved behind the velvet curtain of politics, Gibbs and Fornell and Hotchner's teams were restlessly working through the days and nights to find the unsub. But the unsub had other plans by kidnapping Dmitry Balandin while he had been asleep and when the solider woke from the hazy effects of chloroform, his heart and head were spinning as he threw up all over his uniform and he slurred "Мені тұтқынға алудың қажеті жоқ. Маған босатыңыз" The headache that Balandin suffered from was getting worse and his nausea was increasing and he hoped he remembered to take off his beret before he went to sleep, his terror increased when he saw that he was in a underground basement. Meanwhile Gibbs was smashing through everything while Abby and Garcia were working together to find the missing Kazakh before it was too late. Dmitry tearfully looked around and imagined his mother spending her eternity in a box that was so dark and tight and his chest constricted with panic as he tried to scream for help. The unsub spoke to him in a language he could not understand, but he understood that the man was not here to help, then the man whipped out a knife and stabbed Dmitry in his belly and chest, Balandin refused to cry out in pain, knowing that the unsub would take pleasure in his pain. But apparently Balandin wasn't making the appropriate reaction because he was soon shot in the knee and he screamed as he felt every inch of the bullet ripping through his muscle, arteries, ligaments and sinew and blood began to puddle around the chair as he was tied securely. He thought of the father he had just met and wondered if Gibbs would rescue him.


	10. Chapter Ten

Balandin watched carefully as the unsub made demands in the English language but Dmitry did not understand a single word that was being said to him. He cried out in pain and thought of words to stop the torture. But now, he was alone and the pain was overwhelming the young man. As he slowly lost consciousness from the lack of blood, he could hear his father shouting "NCIS! Put your gun down!" Dmitry suddenly had one last burst of energy and shouted "Baba!" before he passed out. Gibbs eventually found his beloved son, unconscious and chained and tied to a chair and he saw red, the next thing he saw was the unsub's dead body and Aaron was cutting an unconscious Dmitry free and medics were patching him up and replacing the fluids that he had lost. Leroy sat hopelessly in the waiting room with the NCIS and FBI teams in tow, he was so afraid; if he had been any slower, Dmitry would have joined Shannon and Kelly, tears flowed like rivers down his cheeks as he heard his son cry out for him. The most horrific sight was the vomit and the blood pooling around Dmitry. Gibbs saw the doctor come by but the doctor refused to tell Gibbs anything because he was not Balandin's family but Gibbs snapped "I don't give a shit how many degrees you have right now but that is my biological son you have in the OR and I need to know if he is going to be okay!" The doctor suddenly blubbered out "He is no longer in surgery but the bullet has caused extensive damage to his knee and he will need physical therapy, he has been heavily overdosed with chloroform and he is lucky to have survived that. He will wake up once the sedation has worn off and he will not be able to take visitors due to him being immunocompromised so you have to wait 48 hours until you can see him again. After two days of impatient waiting, Gibbs visited his son who looked so despondent and thin, Balandin had bruises all over his body and bandages on his forehead and IV drips were delivering drugs to neutralize the chloroform and the poison. Dmitry cried when he saw his father, and both father and son hugged one another. The future was unknown and both were terrified of the unknown.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Balandin was going home to Astana to face a grueling and lengthily physical therapy session with the military doctors of Kazakhstan. There were tears in his eyes as he knelt to kiss the earth of his motherland, he knew that he had been very close to death and he had told his father "Мен қауіпті болған кезде өмірімді сақтап қалуыңызға мәңгі ризамын" and he told the rest of the teams "Мен өзіме ризашылығымды білдіремін, менің ойларым және дұғаларым бар" And with that, Dmitry Balandin was once again on his own in Kazakhstan, but he had the strength of the entire NCIS and FBI teams behind him to face his personal demons in the steppes of his beloved country. As his strength slowly returned to his knee and his wounds healed, he trained himself harder and pushed himself beyond his limits as he then refocused himself to begin his relationship with his father and strengthen it day by day; he did this by calling and texting frequently as possible like a good son would do. He eventually was cleared for combat six months after his gun shot wound to the knee incident and Dmitry was shocked when he received the assignment in Marwari city of the Philippines and he was fearful but determined to protect his country from terrorists at all costs.


	12. Chapter Twelve

As Dmitry fought for his life in the Philippines and President Duterte took credit for handling the situation, Leroy prayed that his son would survive the urban warfare, his heart froze at the report of car bombs exploding and ISIS smashing through villages and their brutal treatment of captured soldiers, DiNozzo and the rest of the team were deeply concerned for Balandin's chances of survival as suicide bombers were attacking Filipino soldiers and not to mention the fact that ISIS engineers were improvising bombs out of hobby drones and those were difficult to spot. Abby hoped that Balandin would be able to return unscathed, but Leroy knew that in war; there were no unwounded soldiers. Smoke choked out the blue sky as the young man glanced into the sniper's scope, spotting the enemy as the popping sounds of machine guns pierced the silence and the ruins stretched as far as he saw; reminiscent of Aleppo's destruction after the battle took place, Balandin could smell the blood and death in the building he took shelter in, hopelessly trying to survive, he missed his mother and his father, he felt like he had been cheated to; but he had to keep fighting for the sake of his comrades who were either injured or were dead, he tightened the streamers on his blue beret and ducked down to look for more enemies, he finally spotted one and carefully calculated the trajectory of his bullet and fired a headshot into the terrorist's head. The young man felt cold and numb as he took a human life, but the regret would come later, for now, he had to fight for his motherland and for his ancestors. Balandin's maternal grandfather was a Mongol and his maternal grandmother was a Russian and his mother was born in Almaty just like he was too. But now was not the time for such reflections, now was the time for action. Suddenly a high pitched whistle, indicating that a mortar was about to be dropped near by arose and Dmitry shouted in Russian for them for run. Balandin grabbed his rifle and scope and headed downstairs and crouched under the table as the mortar blew up the second floor. He thought of his father living in safety in America and thought I would never put anyone through this as fear coated his mind and his heart beat against his chest and he gripped the crucifix and thought of the deities that had left him to his own devices and ripped it off and tossed it aside and grabbed his Makarov pistol and carefully stepped out into the street and attacked an abandoned bakery shop and killed two militants and ordered two Filipinos to guard the shop while he attacked another building. At that moment a piece of shrapnel struck Balandin in his left ribs causing him to bleed massively but he would not give up trying to liberate the oppressed people of the Philippines, blood stained his uniform and as he stumbled out, a photographer took his picture as he stared on, shell shocked and bloodied as he was held up by a Filipino medic and a Russian solider who whispered comforting and soothing words to the wounded Kazakh. Dmitry leaned on the Russia who warned him to not close his eyes or he would die. But Dmitry had already passed out dreaming of his father's smiling face and his mother's cookies and milk.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Dmitry dreamt of a beautiful garden and his mother was dressed in emerald green robes, it reminded him of the grass of his homeland that he had missed so badly. He knew he could smell smoke in the distance, but for now the young man was content on resting and then returning...if he could ever return that is. Meanwhile Gibbs was investigating a terrorist attack on Rome with the BAU team leading the way when he recived the phone call that his son was critically injured in action and was comatose. Spencer Reid rushed to aid Leroy as he collapsed onto the ground and the soon Leroy raced his way to what could potentially be his son's death bed. He wasn't ready for his son to die so he spoke "You will not die Dmitry Balandin, you don't have my permission to die." But he knew that he was not addressing Tony DiNozzo and Gibbs was concerned about that. Balandin rested and drank water from the fountain of dreams and his mother told him "You must return to your father, he needs you more than I do. Go to him, he will die if you die, I will wait for you here...goodbye my son." And with that Balandin left the dreamworld and slowly returned to reality as he heard the beeping of the heart monitor and the voices around him. He especially loved Derek Morgan's voice and how soothing it was. But he needed to fight for his own life first. When Balandin woke up, he saw his father clutching his blue beret and he looked disheveled and thinner and tearful as he sat in stunned silence. Spencer warned the others not to overwhelm the solider since he had just woken up from a coma.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Dmitry Balandin felt a sudden wave of guilt hitting him for he knew he failed the mission in protecting the children of the Philippines. He sat up as pain radiated from the side of his left hip and his body screamed with pain. Bandages were wrapped round his waist and left arm and Leroy told his son "Please be careful, I cannot lose you too. I already have lost my family and I can't lose you too." Leroy felt tears prickle his eyes and he wiped them away and soon he hugged his son Dmitry and kissed him in the forehead and left the room before Aaron Hotchner came in the room and saw that the solider looked thinner and paler from the nightmarish missions that Balandin undertook as a part of his duties for Kazakhstan. He knew that the young man had a long road ahead of him as Dmitry stared blankly into the distance without any emotion whatsoever on his face. Balandin closed his eyes and remembered the smell of smoke from the mortars and airstrikes, he saw a young woman who screamed and cried and had a bedraggled appearance and Balandin opened his eyes again and sharply inhaled as Hotchner sat by his side and gripped his hand. Aaron began "You will not have an easy recovery and it will not be short either. You are in a hospital tent outside the outskirts of Marawi city" But Dmitry was too busy thinking of his career and what would happen next. Then Hotchner told Balandin "I was approached by a French Foreign Legion solider and he handed me a crucifix with your name inscribed on the tag and now I am handing it back to you assuming that you lost it during the battle." Dmitry held out his hand and recived the object and he placed it round his neck and whispered his apologies to his Lord and Saviour the Jesus Christ and he crossed himself and he laid down and fell asleep from the drugs.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

It was a few days later after both the BAU and the NCIS teams had left, Dmitry was discharged from the hospital and he returned to Marawi city and both teams continued to support Balandin while he was in the battlefield and the Greek military also needed the Kazakh to suppress the protests by using him as a riot control police man but the Syrians managed to earn his serviced and he was sent to Del Ezzor and the young solider was homesick. Meanwhile, Gibbs dreamt that the phone rang endlessly and when he picked it up, Aaron Hotchner was telling him that Dmitry Balandin was dead by the hands of ISIS and he crumpled into Tim Mcgee's arms and he wailed and soon his son's flag draped casket was brought forward in the tarmac in Kazakhstan. Derek Morgan's fists clenched as he tried to comfort Penelope Garcia and Spencer Reid wiped away a stray tear as he bowed his head in sympathy for Leroy and the man would not stop screaming Dmitry's name. Hotchner gripped his son Jack and they all laid roses on the coffin. As the dream melted due to the blaring alarm, Gibbs thanked his lucky stars that his son was still alive and it was all a nightmare...a delusion implanted in his brain by the Evil Entity.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Balandin limped on his right leg as the explosions from the airstrikes from the coalition forces continued behind him. The solider had just celebrated his twenty seventh birthday behind the battlefield lines as the shouts of the dying civilians echoed around him, unable to find, reach or rescue them. These were the voices that would haunt the young man as he survived the war. He carefully threw a grenade into an alley and motioned for his fellow comrades, who were a mixture of nations and ideologies, to follow up and continue on firing the enemy convoy as it tried to carry supplies like weapons, food and water to the enemy. There was no limit to which the coalition would cross in order to defeat a monster ideology, but Balandin was afraid of what would arise from the remains of the Islamic State empire, he constantly had nightmares of dead bodies and their dying screams as blood dripped down his fingers as the zombies of the victims of ISIS stared accusingly at Dmitry and asked him why he couldn't save them. The young man would wake up screaming and kicking his sheets while the rest of his comrades snored as if they were tranqulized. He one night had a nightmare that his father Leroy hated him and was dissapointed in him and left behind a letter saying that Balandin was no longer his son. It was two years after Balandin's deployment to Syria, when Leroy found out where his son really was all this time and he was angry at everyone knowing that his son could've been dead by now and he would've never found out about it. Ducky managed to calm down the irate Marine as the rest of the NCIS team watched in horror as he shouted unprintable curses even the drill Sargeant would've been fainted at. But now Dmitry was too busy thinking about how he was going to survive urban warfare with building to building fighting and snipers and bombs hiding around every corner of the city of Del Ezzor as suicide bombers attacked the roadways and bridges and their ammunition was running out. The solider was stressed out and bleeding out far away from his homeland as he wrapped shredded pieces of cloth round the bad knee that had taken a beating. He fingered the crucifix and threw the grenade that would kill several militants that were pinning his comrades under fire as he hid in a shattered room with fragments of glass scattered all over the floor. He then ducked under a table as gunfire erupted from across the street in a attic. Suddenly a rocket struck the ceiling of the building and the solider jumped out of the four story building and a sickening pop could be heard and he could not stop screaming as he crawled to safety while bullets whizzed around him. He lay on the stretcher, screaming for his father over and over as the Spanish medic tried to save him from his injuries. Dmitry closed his eyes and imagined that he was back in Almaty and his father was holding him as he healed from his injuries. Dmitry Balandin would dream of an absolution even if it was a delusional thought, a false hope to have in one's heart.


	17. Author's note

I am so sorry about the delay in updates. College in CBC has been stressful and lectures have been long and the evening classes have been exhausting. I will try to update as soon as possible when life slows down a little.


	18. Chapter seventeen

Seven years of war were ingrained in Balandin's memories as he watched the unveiling of a war memorial honoring the dead Kazakh soldiers and the missing. As he tucked a strand of blond hair behind his ears, he decided that a life of a solider was no longer suited for him. The doctors told the frail and sickly solider that he was no longer fit for combat due to his injuries and his superiors were relegating his talents to military strategic planning. Countless broken bones and gunshot wounds were the result of a series of tragic mistakes that could have killed Dmitry, but didn't, even Leroy had enough and demanded his son to listen to the doctor's advice. Scars from exploding mortar shells littered the young man's body and when he saw the absolute beauty of Aaron Hotchner, he was ashamed of his appearance and his emotions because he knew that Kazakhstan was a conservative society and did not welcome gay men. He was shy and couldn't deal with the increase of the pressure of the higher up demands from the higher ranking brass. He had to go to college and that was what Dmitry did, he felt old as he roamed down the halls with the younger students and he stood in front of the entrance to the classroom as people shouted and jostled around him for the first day of the Fall Quarter as the backpack weighed him down with books and binders with paperwork and homework. Balandin chose a seat and took a deep breath and reminded himself that he could get his degree in business and grow his knowledge of the math and statistics. He would succeed to make his father and mother proud of him and to make his mark on the world.


	19. Chapter eighteen

Dmitry Balandin stood proudly as rows of soldiers waited to recived their medals of heroism and service and devotion. The sacrifice that he made to come here was not easy, he made many difficult decisions and he regretted some of them, his life as a student was lonely. The Kazakh reflected on how he came from a humble abode with abusive beginnings and grew into a mature man. He nearly became homeless when he was forced to leave the orphanage without a home or a family or friends to rely on. He rose above his circumstances of loneliness and created a future no one would have dreamed of. He would also recive his degree in legal aspects of business with an ehampasis in law. The Kazakh's father Leroy proudly smiled and clapped as the translator helped his understand the merits that his son earned and Dmitry's role in ending the siege of Marawi city and eliminating the terrorists under Duerte's guidance. DiNozzo eventually left for the Greek army in order to put down riots and terrorism attempts on the fledgling government. The summer heat after the ceremony was strong and Balandin undressed into his swimming trunks and leapt into the pool to cool off after sweating in his cotton uniform that was laden with medals that his father Leroy could only dream of. Gibbs smiled as his son swam laps in the pool and relaxed afterwards. Balandin closed his eyes and remembered the smell of the dead bodies and stench of dead corpses rotting under the hot sun and he quickly grabbed the towel and ran into the room before his father could say anything about the strange behavior manifested by Dmitry Balandin. Dmitry was busy researching and writing his Bachelors thesis papers and he had yet to develop a dissertation in order to begin his 300 page essay on law and the corruption of business and government agencies and Spencer Reid wanted him to go to the newest nightclub in Astana. Balandin rolled his eyes as he reviewed his notes from the lectures he had attended and he calmly replied "I apologize, but as you can see, I am quite occupied with my research for my dissertation and thesis papers and I cannot put this off, this is very important to me to fulfill so that I can finally earn my degree that I had no chance of earning until now. I will work hard to make you all proud of me and my actions." Spencer replied " it's okay, keep studying for the tests and the thesis, if you need help editing your papers, send them over and I will double check your annotated sources and I will help you achieve your dreams." Dmitry understood and kept typing down his notes and sources and wrote through the nights and days as the due date approached to turn in the papers, stress levels for the former solider peaked and he wrung his hands as he sweated the big and small details on his paper as he typed out the published draft of his paper and the rough draft was filed away from sight as levels of corruption in corporate offices were horrific especially in eastern nations including Russia, China, and India, all three were of the G20 and BRICS organizations and as a result, competition was fixed and had a high influence on government policies to manipulate the senators into passing lax laws in exchange for kickbacks and laundered money and the cycle was vicious and never ending in the sight of Balandin. And all of the consumers and citizens suffered as a result. He eventually turned in his best work with the help of Spencer and got an A and as a reward from the professor, his thesis was published and it rocked the world and catipulted Balandin from relative obscurity to worldwide fame as angry presidents and prime ministers scrambled to cover up their schemes, but the damage was done and it was too late for the Chinese and Indian presidents as they were forced to resign. The Russian president's PR suffered greatly as he tried to put out the fire with napalm by promising better reforms that never happened as he was impeached and his successor was sworn in. Balandin was shocked be the impact of his essay on so many people, he only thought he would get a passing grade but now make any waves, but he was certainly wrong, he was happy and he graduated from the University of Astana and government agencies were seeking out his services as letters came from all over the world. He would only choose one out of all the others.


	20. Chapter nineteen

Balandin recived his degree during the ceremony and his acceptance letter to join the FSB in Russia and to contribute to the security of the Russian people. He packed his bags and medals, including the first gold medal he earned after he was injured in a drugs bust and he left Kazakhstan, his beloved motherland behind. His passport was clutched in his right hand as he hauled his suitcase to a new apartment in downtown Moscow, Russia and he sighed deeply. He wiped away a few stray tears and dropped his bags onto the ground and curled up on the ground and slept. The honking of the cars and the shouts of the angry commuters woke him up and he grabbed his uniform and his beret knowing that he had missed his deadline for the tests and the Greek government was furious and so was the Russian government and he broke down in tears knowing that his hard work had amounted to nothing. Balandin eventually was able to appease both governments and take the test of his skills in firearms, physical combat, knowledge in law enforcement, and he barely passed the test by a few points to to be accepted by the FSB and to contribute to the team so he could begin training and development of his skills and experience.


	21. Chapter twenty

It has been seven years of being a liason to the Russian government and the political pressure on the fledgling government is the nightmare that he never experienced in his life, he was a solider, not a politician who was corrupted not unlike the Russian and Greek and Macedonian authorities who were fighting over Dmitry's services and skills due to his experience in hostage rescue missions and eventually Croatia took advantage of the fray and seized Balandin's contract and renewed it with them, and so on a freezing cold epiphany holiday season, he was once again packing his bags and heading outwards and moving on to a new life into the room where there was hardly any at all. He recived a dingy, rotten apartment that was barely affordable at sixty Kuna and he was only paid one hundred and seventy Kuna and the heater wasn't working as he began to develop a cough and hacked out a little clear liquid before getting to work as he noticed that there was no hot water, only cold water and he was bitterly dissapointed. He wanted to go back to Moscow where the apartments were at least habitable, these homes here in Croatia weren't fit for even prisoners and he placed some bedding on the ratty mattress and tried to make the best of his situation and make it feel more like home because he knew that the Serbs and Germans were seeking out his services as well and he had a feeling he wouldn't be returning to Kazakhstan for a long time.


	22. Chapter twenty-one

Balandin slaved away at his reports in a freezing hell hole known as his apartment room. His stipend wasn't enough to buy a nice apartment while in Croatia. Investigating fraud was incredibly difficult for the man to deal with, but he was determined to catch the crook and put the man behind bars. Dmitry decided to take a break from reviewing the case and visited the Presidential Palace where the President worked but did not reside in. Madam President greeted Balandin warmly and held a reception for the Kazakh and they had a long conversation with each other before parting ways. Dmitry then returned to his apartment and shivered violently as he filled out paperwork to return to Kazakhstan and to renegotiate a contract with another nation. There was no way he could tolerate these kind of living and working conditions.


	23. Author's Note.

I have been busy with college. Also I have been struggling with getting ideas...so use the comments in this chapter to request and I will fulfill to my very best. Spaisbo readers for being so loyal!


	24. An Update that needs to be made

I'm sorry I haven't been writing. Regardless of the circumstances, I am glad that readers have come by and have appreciated the work that goes into these fanfics. I have been busy with college and classes and taking tests and delivering presentations. I promise I will make the wait worth it. And also, I have been dealing with depression and self harm, so it may take some time before I'm back in my groove


	25. Chapter twenty two

Balandin was filled with grief and trauma, his depression was drowning him. But the fact that the Croatia filed an arrest warrant for the young ex-soldier filled headlines around the world and that caused an international incident that destroyed the relationship between Kazakhstan and Croatia and the fury that Gibbs had against his own son. It isolated the young man and he was hopeless...the court tried him and found him guilty of murder that he didn't commit and he was innocent...he screamed and cried in horror, but his father didn't listen and so he fell silent and didn't speak...but when he was hauled to prison, his pale skin, his blue eyes and blond hair and his fit body made him the target of a sexual assualt. It happened during the night as a strong man overtook the young screaming man and forcefully thrust into him and Balandin gave up resistance and let the waved of forced bliss overtake him and he lost conciousness. When he woke up, he felt filthy and exhausted and quickly took up his torn clothes and sobbed as the emotional mess of his life returned to him. His exhaustion and pain was horrendous. And he collapsed, but Dinozzo didn't belive the conviction, so he began researching the evidence and found evidence of wrong doing and a blatant attempt to silence Balandin due to his dissertation. This horrified the agent, but could he get Gibbs to help his own broken son?


	26. Chapter twenty three

Balandin at this point was mentally destroyed by the rapist and no longer spoke to anyone, he merely obeyed orders like a robot and did his sentence as he reflected how a rising special forces soldier like him could end up in Croat prison. He realized that he should've never written that dissertation...ever, that dissertation ruined his life and future so much...his reputation was blasted into bits and pieces, he had no hope for forgiveness or redemption as coughing wracked his body and he shivered and gently touched the prison bars as he served a sentence that he didn't deserve. As Balandin's health continued to decline becuade of the wintry freezing air, Dinozzo finally got Gibbs to listen to him about his imprisoned son in Zagreb. Gibbs realized that he had been wrong this whole time and that his son was innocent this whole time...he wished he had belived his son before he was thrown into a freezing prison cell with little to no food or water and only a bucket for a toilet. Balandin was feverish and ill as he shivered violently under his sheet as the wind howled above him...he closed his eyes...ill and alone...Balandin drifted off into a deep and lonely sleep.


	27. Chapter twenty four

Balandin lay on the hospital bed as tubes were shoved down his throat and drips were insterted into his veins and nurses and doctors took notes and checked over him. His breathing was shallow and weak and raspy and his skin was pale and waxy and bruised and scarred. His lungs shook and rattled and his eyes were half-lidded as he was drowsy from the drugs. He was barely aware of anything as the warmth washed over him and his conciousness faded out and he fell asleep. He woke up a few hours later and Dr. Kacisnky told him that he had stage two leukemia and he needed chemo immediatly as his health from the prison had dramatically decreased and his lungs were in danger of failing at any moment. He could feel someone putting a warm compress cloth on his forehead and a soothing voice reassuring him that he was safe and okay...that voice was oddly and eerily familiar and somehow...not so much...


	28. Chapter Twenty Five

Balandin was drinking heavily and staring at the televison blankly as the words and images floated past him...his brain was fuzzy and couldn't register the buzzing of the patrons around him as he hid his hair loss under a beanie, he had been long deported to Almaty, Kazakhstan in disgrace, his cancer was rapidly spreading and Croatia didn't have the resources to treat it and he was cutting himself frequently. He grabbed a few more drinks before heading back to his apartment where he had been forced to stay as a part of his plea deal to extradite him from Croatia to Kazakhstan. He stared at the smiling photograph of himself, the days of him wearing a military uniform seemed like a distant memory to him as he was broken by time, his body was much thinner and he was bony and skeletal, his cheeks were hollowed out and bony, he laughed bitterly at how far he had fallen, all becuase of a false accusation. He took another swig of his vodka before watiching the state programme and put away his stuff in their places, he muttered a Kazak insult before watching a show. He closed his eyes in exasperation at everything he had seen and experienced so far.


End file.
